In a road vehicle, especially a car, it is advantageous to be able to freely distribute drive torque to different wheels in order to enhance the driving dynamics of the vehicle. Devices for accomplishing this desired result are in the art referred to as torque vectoring devices.
Generally speaking, torque vectoring devices may be used in either two-wheel drive vehicles or four-wheel drive vehicles.
A prior torque vectoring device is shown in WO 2010/101506, to which reference is made for a better general understanding of the field of torque vectoring devices and their use in road vehicles. The torque vectoring device of this publication is shown to be used together with an electric propulsion motor, but this is per se no limitation, and the used power source may equally well be a combustion engine.
The torque vectoring device of the publication is constructed to transfer torque between two half-axles of a vehicle drive axle via a differential mechanism and has a torque source in the form of an electric motor.
The main object of the present invention is to attain a torque vectoring device to be used as a unit together with a conventional differential of a vehicle. It is a further object to make this unit compact, light-weight, easier to integrate and cheaper than present torque vectoring devices.